State to study climate change impact on oceans, oysters

Long Island, New York Harbor, Hudson expected to benefit

Samples collected by students, workers and volunteers, associated with NY/NJ Baykeeper, as gather marine life data in the waters near Soundview Park July 18, 2018 in New York.
The Soundview oyster reef monitoring event brought the group together to perform hands-on oyster reef monitoring and data collection of oysters and other marine life. / AFP PHOTO / Don EMMERTDON EMMERT/AFP/Getty Images less

Samples collected by students, workers and volunteers, associated with NY/NJ Baykeeper, as gather marine life data in the waters near Soundview Park July 18, 2018 in New York.
The Soundview oyster reef ... more

Photo: DON EMMERT, Getty

Photo: DON EMMERT, Getty

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Samples collected by students, workers and volunteers, associated with NY/NJ Baykeeper, as gather marine life data in the waters near Soundview Park July 18, 2018 in New York.
The Soundview oyster reef monitoring event brought the group together to perform hands-on oyster reef monitoring and data collection of oysters and other marine life. / AFP PHOTO / Don EMMERTDON EMMERT/AFP/Getty Images less

Samples collected by students, workers and volunteers, associated with NY/NJ Baykeeper, as gather marine life data in the waters near Soundview Park July 18, 2018 in New York.
The Soundview oyster reef ... more

Photo: DON EMMERT, Getty

State to study climate change impact on oceans, oysters

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Albany

As New York's oyster industry makes a comeback, the state is gearing up to study how changes in ocean chemistry caused by man-made climate change might threaten oysters and the rest of New York's multi-billion dollar marine industry.

About a third of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere is absorbed into the oceans, where it is converted into carbonic acid. This is causing a gradual, steady increase in ocean acidity levels, which are now about 30 percent higher than at the start of the Industrial Revolution.

Rising acidity levels are a threat to oysters, clams, corals and other aquatic creatures that make shells, since this increase also causes a decline in carbonate ions, which are a critical chemical building block of shell formation.

Last week, the state Department of Environmental Conservation announced creation of a 14-member task force to examine ocean acidification, which is a consequence of past and ongoing emissions of carbon dioxide from the burning of fossil fuels.

DEC Commissioner Basil Seggos said it will "ensure that the best available science is used to assess and respond to this emerging threat to our coastal waters and fisheries." He said marine resources support the jobs of about 350,000 state residents.

"Ocean acidification has a dramatic effect on species such as shell fish, including oysters and clams, as well as corals and even plankton. It puts the entire food chain at risk from plankton to whales," said Chris Thorncroft, chairman of the University at UAlbany Department of Atmospheric and Environmental Sciences.

"This is a problem for societies worldwide that rely on seafood for their protein. It also impactseconomies, like New York's, that depend on fish and shellfish," he added.

State Assemblyman Steve Englebright, a Long Island Democrat and chairman of the Environmental Conservation Committee, sponsored the 2016 law to create this task force.

"We have a responsibility to prepare for the impacts of climate change, and that includes the impacts on the ocean," he said. "The task force will bring the magnitude of this threat into plain sight and help us develop strategies to mitigate and adapt."

Washington state has implemented strategies to protect its oyster industry.

After oyster beds in the Pacific Northwest began to die off 2006, researchers found increasing acidity was damaging the ability of oyster larvae to develop shells. Washington state created a task force in 2012 to examine the problem, which led to changes in the industry including the monitoring of acidity levels near oyster beds and blocking beds from mixing with incoming ocean water during periods of high acidity.

At the time, Charles Westfall, president of the Long Island Oyster Growers Association, said oyster farming was "in the midst of a renaissance that is revitalizing our local seafood industry."

And in 2014, a project was launched to restore one billion oysters to New York Harbor by the year 2035. So far, under the Billion Oyster Project, more than 26 million oysters have been placed in eight reefs, with three more reefs planned for the Hudson River.

Oysters were an important part of the diet and economy of New York City for several centuries until the oyster population collapsed in the 1920s as a consequence of increasing pollution of the river and harbor.

Mounds of discarded oyster shells dating back more than 6,000 years have been found in the New York City area, showing their importance to the Native American diet as well. At the time of Henry Hudson's arrival in 1609, there were about 350 square miles of oyster reefs in the harbor and surrounding waters.

Task force members include:

James F. Gennaro, (as chairman) DEC Deputy Commissioner.

Marci Bortman, director of conservation programs for The Nature Conservancy.